OBSERVATIONS OF LUMINOUS METEORS. G9 



2. In the ' Standard' of September 15, 18G9, Mr. F. P. Bullock describes 

 a remarkably bright meteor, which he saw at Cheltenham, at 10'' 8™ p.m., on 

 the 12th of that month, passing rapidly, and with an extraordinary long 

 course, over a complete quarter of the sky. 



3. The following observations of rather bright meteors were communi- 

 cated, with some of lesser magnitude noted during previous years, by Mr. 

 J. E. Clark :— 



1869, September 20, 6^ 46"" p.m. — A meteor about }r of the apparent size 

 of the moon was seen by Mr. A. K. Brown, Mr. S. P. Thomson, and by other 

 observers, at Dcnbydale, near Huddersfield, of pale yellow light, apparently 

 not much stronger than that of Saturn, and changing to red. It fell about 

 15° in 2| seconds, nearly vertically, to a point about 15° above the east 

 horizon, followed by a streak or tail of sparks, which became redder, like the 

 nucleus, towards the end of its coui'se. 



1869, December 21, &" 15"' p.m.— Near Leominster, Mr, J. E. Southall 

 observed a meteor of j-ellow colour, and of about the greatest brilliancy of 

 the planet Yenus, descending vertically 12^^° in half a second from a point in 

 B. A. 97°, S. Decl. 7°, to 11. A. 80°, S. Decl. 18°. The meteor was visible 

 through light clouds, which obscured the view of any streak or sparks which 

 may have accompanied it in its course. 



4. At a meeting of the Natural History and Philosophical Society of 

 Derry, in Ireland, on March 4, 1870, Mr. William Harte described some 

 observations of a remarkable meteor which passed over Donegal on the night 

 of the 27th of December 1809. 



5. 1870, July 25, evening. — Soon after dark, a brilliant meteor was 

 observed in Kent and at other places near the English Channel. At Dover 

 it was seen to rise almost perpendicularly from the sea horizon in the east, 

 increasing in splendour until it disappeared overhead. The fii'st effect of its 

 very striking and unusual upward course was to produce an irresistible 

 impression that it was a signal rocket or other artificial light fired from some 

 distant vessel on the sea. Some current descriptions of this fireball, which 

 appeared in the daily journals at the time, have unfortunately escaped the 

 notice of the Committee. 



0. On the 16th of October, 1870, descriptions of two bright meteors 

 received by the Committee appear to indicate some close connexion from 

 their resemblance, although, from their recorded positions and from a slight 

 interval between their times of appearance, they appear to be distinct. The 

 first, which appeared to Mr. J. E. Clark and Mr. S. Giles, at York, at 

 8'' 25™ P.M., of red colour, increasing from the apparent brightness of a 

 foiirth-magnitiide star to that of Venus, described a short course of 8° or 9° 

 in three or four seconds, from a point in B. A. 22°, 'N. Decl. 20°, to B. A. 34°, 

 N. Decl. 16°, leaving a few sparks, but no visible streak upon its course. 

 At 8*" 28'" P.M., on the same evening, a meteor bi'igbter than a first-magni- 

 tude star, and in every other respect of perfectly similar description with 

 that observed at York, was seen by Mr. William Marriott, at Greenwich, 

 describing, in the same time, an apparent course of the same length, in the 

 northern sky, from the star 4" towards the star a in Draco. The meteor seen 

 at York appeared in the south-east, at such a considerable distance from the 

 direction indicated by the Greenwich observations as to admit of no possible 

 consideration of their identity by the supposition of ordinary errors of obser- 

 vation. But the remarkable resemblance of their descriptions and their 

 nearly simultaneous appearance, if not attributable to the earth's passage at 

 the time through a common meteor-system, is yet a very similar occurrence 



